Fallen Leaves that Lie Scattered on the Ground

A few years ago the Horse of the Americas Registry conducted an inspection tour of the wild horses of Corolla and Shackleford in order to determine whether the two herds were of pure enough Spanish lineage to be allowed in the HOA. Of course, the result of that inspection was to find that the horses were, without a doubt,Colonial Spanish Horses.

During that, tour one of the stallions that we encountered was a young stallion of unique color. Vickie Ives was very impressed with both his color and his beautiful conformation. We all looked forward to seeing him produce many offspring in the wild for years to come. He was known as Spec and is the stallion in the picture above.

Over the weekend he was destroyed. In two years that makes three beautiful stallions forever gone from the limited number of wild Spanish mustangs in the wild at Corolla. All taken by the hands of people, one by shotgun, one by automobile, one by ATV--All gone.

I doubt that there is a single tree in Corolla that has been on the island as long as these horses have. It is late fall for the few embattled horses that remain. They are falling like leaves. It is up to us to decide if spring will ever come for the horses of Corolla.